Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
rootlike

rootlike

4.4
Having a long thin part that holds and feeds a living thing
  • adjective
  • /ˈruːtˌlaɪk/
translation icon : similar a una raíz
  • If the carrot is mature enough and the child has practiced enough, then the small, light core comes out completely smooth in the end, as if it hatched by itself, moist; even the tiny, tender, rootlike bumps on the surface of the core are left whole.

Examples

  • The hole in the ground was under their sleeping furs and filled with the sweet and starchy vegetables, which had been gathered earlier by the small animal when the rootlike corms were at their peak.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The plant has rootlike structures that help it absorb nutrients from the soil.

  • The alien creature moved on its rootlike appendages, resembling the roots of a tree.

  • Scientists studied the rootlike formations of the fungus as it spread through the decaying wood.

Synonyms

rooty
vsrootlike
1 6.5

Full of thick underground parts of plants that make the ground uneven

describes resemblance rather than abundance, focusing on shape or function
rhizomorphic
vsrootlike
  • Specialized
9.9

Having a shape like plant roots, often seen in fungi

is a general term for resembling underground plant parts in shape or function

How Rootlike

rhizomatous
  • Specialized
9.9
rooty
1 6.5
rootlike
4.4

Surface Forms

rootlike positive

Morphology

rootlike = root (transparent) = root + like

The adjective is a straightforward formation from the noun 'root' plus the productive adjectival suffix '-like', meaning 'resembling a root'.

Etymology

Rootlike combines root ('the part of a plant under the ground', like a tree root) and -like ('similar to'). So it literally means 'similar to a root', which is why we use it for things that look or act like roots in shape or function.